Friday, 7 October 2011

OnLive Merchandise is Coming to GAME Stores in the UK Before Christmas

This year at the Eurogamer Expo in London, England we learned that OnLive and GAME Group plc had formed a strategic partnership. Not only is GAME going to be selling OnLive merchandise via their website, but they will also be selling OnLive hardware and game redemption cards in their retail stores in the UK. OnLiveFans recently had an opportunity to interview Tricia Brennan, who is responsible for the partnership on the GAME side and holds the title of Group Commercial Strategy Director.

- OnLiveFans.com: What is the time frame of when we can expect to see OnLive merchandise selling in GAME and GameStation Stores?

Tricia Brennan: We’re very excited about our partnership with OnLive. We are planning to have OnLive merchandise on our website and in our stores before Christmas.

- OnLiveFans.com: What exactly will you be selling related to OnLive in stores? Will you sell OnLive Game Systems, OnLive wireless and universal controllers, as well as OnLive games (via redemption cards)?

Tricia Brennan: Yes, all of it! We’ll be selling the MicroConsoles, subscriptions and individual games too. Our digital range is growing very fast, and pre-paid redemption cards are very popular with customers.

-OnLiveFans.com: Is there a possibility that we could see redemption cards for OnLive included for free with purchases of PC and console games?

Tricia Brennan: We don’t have any plans for that at the moment – but if it's an offer that OnLive and our publisher partners want to do in the future, we’ll obviously support it!

- OnLiveFans.com: Will you have in-store kiosks set up to demonstrate the OnLive service?

Tricia Brennan: There are various ways to do this – using kiosks, pods or tablets – and we’re looking at all of them. Whatever we choose, we want to give customers a great experience. It's still early days, so we haven’t made a decision yet.

- OnLiveFans.com: We’ve heard rumors that one retailer came to OnLive to request that they sell pink glittery MicroConsoles (see here). Do you have anything in the works with OnLive to sell merchandise that is unique to what they are currently offering on their website?

Tricia Brennan: Haha! Customers love different colours, so this isn’t a crazy idea. Having said that, we’re obviously focusing on launching the main OnLive service at the moment, so fancy new stuff will have to wait!

- OnLiveFans.com: Do you plan on offering any special promotions for OnLive once you begin selling merchandise in your stores?

Tricia Brennan: The launch packages that OnLive has announced are already a great deal, so we’ll be going with them initially. Over time we will obviously want to offer our customers great promotions and offers, plus of course, all of our customers will earn Reward Card points too.

- OnLiveFans.com: Where do you see OnLive in a year from now?

Tricia Brennan: OnLive has had a great launch in the UK – arguably more high profile than in the USA – so we think there will be a lot of interest. We’re already getting customers asking lots of questions about it in our shops, so we’re looking forward to putting the products on the shelves and seeing them fly out the door.

This partnership with GAME is surely the first of many future partnerships that OnLive will reach with other video game retail outlets worldwide. While right now it doesn’t appear as though there will be a partnership with GameStop in the US, there are other retailers that would probably be willing to partner with OnLive.